17558/Birds of... actually a couple feathers

Birds of... actually a couple feathers
Date of Scene:	02 April 2024
Location:	A dark and gloomy Gotham street
Synopsis:	Demon cultists have a bad time, but Dinah and Rachel get to chitchat.
Cast of Characters:	Rachel Roth, Dinah Lance

---

Rachel Roth has posed:
It's not exactly unheard of for Gotham's night to be split by the sounds of violence and chaos. Really, it's probably more unusual for a night to pass without at least three or four incidents of note. But how often do two seemingly identical incidents occur? And how often do they involve figures in robes and cloaks and black candles kidnapping people?

Don't answer that. It's probably depressing.

But it's unique enough that as the news trickles through the underworld sources that Dinah Lance has access to through her vigilante role, it will be enough for her to put the pieces together and realize that the reports of quote 'Weird, flashy magical shit' unquote going down sounds an awful lot like it's tied to some recent similar groups.

For her part, Rachel Roth's got no confusion about who they are. Which is why the strange flashy magic shit is going on. Not that she agrees it's flashy. Her powers really are more darkness based in aesthetic, though she wouldn't deny that the altar chamber currently engulfed in spreading flame from a wild swing of a candle stand by a cultist at the pale woman that missed and threw a trio of lit candles into the voluminous curtains could count as flashy.

And really, Raven's not too worried, she's no hand to hand combat expert, but neither were the figures now sprawled out in various states of semi-to-un-consciousness. The once abandoned house that's slowly being filled by smoke and fire is empty as inky black holes have swallowed up cultists to spit them out onto the sidewalk.

And the last one, hood thrown back to reveal a pale bald head covered in tattoos that make one's eyes hurt to look at is rushing at the woman with an upraised sceptre of some sort, even though he's a good fifteen feet away, and she's beginning to turn back to the point where her own hood won't block her view of him.

Of course, with Gotham's population of vigilantes, there might just be some badass with her own motorcycle about to save the day.

Dinah Lance has posed:
Vrrrrrroooooommmmmm.....

The sound of salvation (and a classic Harley) gets louder as Black Canary appears, quickly dismounting from the Harley. She widens her eyes at the scenario - seeing a bunch of rent-a-cultusts flopped around, and the leader was going after the young woman in mage robes who seems to about be cold-cocked with some really hideous winged statue.

Well, Canary doesn't appreciate the dishonorable sneak-attack so she lets her displeasure known - loudly. A Canary Cry rips from her throat, sending the living Rorschach test flying as she moves to stand between Raven and the cult leader.

Rachel Roth has posed:
Engine roars, and both deranged cultist and dour young (very young, as far as demons go) sorceress are taken by surprise. Of course the cultist is far more open about his surprise, spinning to face the oncoming bike, eyes widening further, to the point it really seems like they should roll out of their sockets like a horrifying mockery of a cartoon character. Pale figure in dark cloak, red gem in her forehead catching the oncoming headlight, reacts with a single raised eyebrow. Right about the time that Canary Cry sends the crazed madman flying off his feet, that heavy scepter clattering away, and... and he's fine. He's probably hit his head that hard before. Plus, if he hasn't, well... he's already a demon cultist. How much damage could a concussion add on?

Still, when the blonde's suddenly interposed between her and the last of the trouble, a low, casual voice chimes out from that hood. "Impressive. Efficient. You Gothamites don't disappoint." She pauses for a moment, "The crime fighting ones. The demon cultists? Terribly disappointing."

There's no lilt to that last quip, no emphasis on it for humor.

Rachel Roth is the life of the party. It's just that the parties are so often a bunch of robed lunatics trying to sacrifice people to her father.

Dinah Lance has posed:
Dinah Lance shrugs as she looks around, staring at the cultust, ready to act if he's dumb enough to get up again. "Well, the only disappoinment I see is that you cleaned them up too fast before I could join he party. Which either means that they didn't hire enough help or they skipped cardio day. I go by Black Canary."

She then steps over and puts her foot on the man's chest. "If you try to get up I'll call to you again. I don't think you'd like the result." She pulls a set of handcuffs out of a pocket. "So - some kind of cult?" She sniffs, wrinking her nose. "Sulfur. Hmmmm. I take it these idiots were onto something more than making speical kool-aid?" She keeps pressure on the cult leader's chest, encouraging him to stay put as she kneels down to begin to handcuff him.

Rachel Roth has posed:
There's an actual little laugh from Rachel, just the briefest little chirp of mirth. "Oh, I don't think they expected anyone to interrupt them. I'm sure if they knew either of us were going to show up they would have at /least/ had some guns." The dark haired sorceress strides over to the crumpled cult leader and gives him a... not entirely gentle kick. "...I think he's unconscious." She heaves out a sigh. "Well, I already took their tome, so I doubt he'd be able to tell me anything very useful I won't be able to figure out through study."

She glances sidelong and nods her head as Canary produces the cuffs like magic. "Yes. Demon cult. There are always some of them creeping around. The worrying part is which demon but... I'll figure that out. And then we can eventually have a talk. Hopefully they were just a bunch of misguided dweebs but..." She stares down at the tattooed cult leader and sighs, "They usually don't get tattoos like that if they're just poseurs or play acting as some kind of... thing." She pauses for a moment and then half scowls, "Oh. I'm Raven. Sorry, I don't do this whole... team up thing often. I'm from the Titans."

Dinah Lance has posed:
Dinah Lance smiles softly. "It's fine. I often work alone but have associations with the Birds of Prey. Heck, you'd probably do well with us." She smiles faintly. "The weirdest thing is knowing that magic and demons are real when we were all raised to think of them as stuff from Lord of the Rings." She shrugs as she gets an old-fashioned flip-phone out to call the poilce. "So - what's up with those weird tats? They make me queasy to watch - are they magic or something?"

Rachel Roth has posed:
Raven perks one eyebrow, but those dark lips of hers can't completely hide a smirk as she sighs out. "Maybe. If nothing else, I could tell my friends I joined the Birds of Prey and watch them pass out from overloading on jokes they desperately want to make." She tilts her head thoughtfully, "I would say that Lord of the Rings is at least fiction in that elves don't exist... but I have definitely seen people with pointed ears. And really, is it any more unusual than aliens? And there's a space port now... how is that weird to me? I am on a team with more than one alien. And two demi-goddesses." Her head bobs quickly, "Yes. They're magic. Or... magic influenced. So they cause headaches in the untrained... but don't worry, that's all they do."

Dinah Lance has posed:
Dinah Lance shrugs. "Well - I'm also with the Justice League and there's two aliens, one who could arguably be a demi-goddess, and some of the most fascinating technology that might as well be magic." She shrugs. "And Batman, who's a force beyond definition." She smiles softly. "So... what's your story? I'm just a vigilante that has a metahuman gift of being very VERY loud." She grins.

Rachel Roth has posed:
Raven sighs softly and seems to shrink inside her cloak for a moment. "Oh, my story's a very long one. Very long." She tilts her head with a wry little smirk. "The short version is I'm a sorceress and empath." She trails off for a moment, "Not that I read feelings or thoughts without permission of course." She glances down at the cultists and sighs out a touch louder, "The medium length story is I'm also half demon, and so I take a personal interest in cults like this. It's a bit of... family concern. And what /that/ means is the long story." She clicks her tongue and shakes her head. "Not meant for talking about on sidewalks, or we'll freeze to death."

Dinah Lance has posed:
Dinah Lance just nods slowly. "Indeed." She pulls out an old-fashioned business card and hands it over. "Here. Call if you come up with more of these guys. I mean, they can't be that tough if they were defeated in 5 minutes but they might go to Rent-a-Thug next time instead of Minion's Warehouse." It's obvious that she's just making up names - there aren't actually such places named that. "I do hope that these people weren't trying to start a family reunion. We have enough going on on Gotham without demon lords showing up. No offense, Raven."

Rachel Roth has posed:
Raven reaches out to pluck that business card with just the ghost of fingers meeting for a brief moment as she smiles lopsidedly. "Well, rest assured I'm doing my best to ensure no demon lords will appear anywhere. But if I get an inkling of one aiming for Gotham I will let you know and we'll work extra hard, yes?" And then with a melodramatic flourish of that cloak the pale young woman steps towards the shadows of an alley, and simply walks /through/ those shadows to vanish.

Sure, it's not how Batman does that, but she's got to show she has /some/ style.